Prune bushy top of small plant?

i'm with grannie.. think you need to illicit a bit more stretch out of the plants even if you do remove a leaf or two. axillary growth needs to spread out to be useful... so removing leaves to help grow what will be the oldest growth and potentially pruned off anyway isn't as helpful as you think it is. i'd rather that side growth stretch a little bit to reach light, then train it as needed. those first couple nodes won't even produce a decent bud anyway if you don't lollipop or defo at all, and most likely liek i said, it won't be there when the plant is in bloom unless it's a really tiny autoflower.